Struggles in power play, on defense lay foundation for Wisconsin hockey's loss to Michigan State
MADISON – The high provided by a win over the No. 1 team in the nation proved to be only a momentary respite for the Wisconsin men’s hockey team.
The Badgers, who defeated top-ranked Minnesota last Saturday, fell back into their season-long funk Friday night, allowing three first-period goals on the way to a 6-2 loss to Michigan State in front of 8, 416 at the Kohl Center.
The loss dropped UW to 11-20 overall and 4-17 in the Big Ten and marked the fifth straight time it failed when presented with the chance to win consecutive games. The contest also marked the ninth time the Badgers allowed five goals or more in a game.
Three of those contests came against the Spartans, who are ranked 17th in the nation in the USCHO poll and 14th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine ranking. Michigan State has outscored UW, 16-3 in three games. Six players scored Friday for the Spartans, who raised its record to 16-15 overall scored its 34th point in Big Ten play.
“I give them a lot of credit for being a good, hard-working team, four lines that work hard and play the same way, first line through fourth line,” Wisconsin coach Tony Granato said. “They’ve got a lot more skill on some lines, but they play the same way, they play hard and they earned it tonight. They dug in.”
BOX SCORE:Michigan State 6, Wisconsin 2
The Spartans needed the win to strengthen their chance for getting home ice for the Big Ten playoffs. They finished the day in third place in the conference but have one game left while their competition for home ice – Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Penn State – all play next week. Minnesota, which clinched the conference title with a win over Penn State on Friday gets a first-round bye.
Michigan State scored three times during the final the final 11 minutes of the first period to take control. Granato, however, felt the tone was set by Wisconsin's ineffectiveness on the power play. Wisconsin had a 5-minute power play during the first 5 minutes and three power players in the first period overall.
“We had an opportunity to take the game over by being sharp in that area and we weren’t,” Granato said. “We gave them a lot of momentum coming out of those (penalty) kills and then we didn’t manage the puck very well and they played like they want to get home ice advantage in the playoffs.”
Even when UW scored, it quickly lost momentum.
Freshman Tyson Jugnauth’s power-play goal at the 6:02 mark of the period got UW on the board, but less than 2 minutes later Viktor Hurtig’s score re-established Michigan State’s cushion.
A similar scenario took place after sophomore Zach Urdahl’s goal at the 10:52 mark of the period. This time it took only 67 seconds for the Spartans to go ahead by three again, this time off a goal by Jeremy Davidson.
That scored ended the night for junior goalie Kyle McClellan, who finished the night with five goals allowed, eight saves and a .615 save percentage. Senior Jared Moe came on in relief and recorded 11 saves and one goal allowed in 29 minutes, 45 seconds of action.
UW will try it again Saturday, the final home game of the season. The program will honor its seven seniors before the game.
“The battle areas tonight that were going to be most important for us to win this game were going to be at both net fronts,” Granato said. “They beat us at our net front. We didn’t do enough at their net front. That was two different teams in the offensive zone and the commitment around the net.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin men's hockey starts slow, falls to Michigan State
